July Updates

Hey all,

I realise I didn’t write my Wednesday Book Review yesterday. I apologise for that. Instead I have been working on revamping my personal website: Nthato Morakabi.com

Here are the updates I’ve made so far:

Book Reviews

While this blog has been going strong with book reviews (okay kinda strong), I’ve been neglecting to update my personal website and it’s book reviews. My last review on it was Tales from Alternate Earths, on October 27, 2016. It’s almost been a whole year. So during the course of this week I will be updating as necessary.

Author Spotlight

I’m still taking book review requests. I’ve been contacted by a few authors so you’ll be seeing more of those books in future reviews. This includes David Meredith’s second book Aaru, J.T Lawrence’s two books Why You Were Taken and The Memory of Water. I was quite pleased to see these books in our local chain bookstore Exclusive Books. Really exciting to see Janita and her books grow!

Author Spotlight is an opportunity to acknowledge the amazing authors out there whose books I had been privileged to read.

Gamecca – Independent Game Developer Interviews

It’s been two years now since I started doing interviews with both local and international Indie Game developers. I’ll be cataloging every interview, studio and game in a new section of my personal website. Not a gaming blog at all, just an opportunity to thank and show off the talented game devs out there.

Gamecca Indie Game Developer Interviews

I’ve also been contemplating a separate game blog. Who knows. Maybe one day.

Writing

You may have noticed I’ve been sort of consistent now with my Friday Fiction. I’ve also been writing on Wattpad under a different pseudonym entering various writing challenges. I’m not participating in Camp NaNo this month but I am working on a number of stories.

Seeing all my writer friends and acquaintances making a name for themselves has been an inspiration.

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Nothing else major is happening so far. I guess only the future will reveal itself. Until then, let’s all continue to push the limits of our capabilities.

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Remember you can sign up to my SPAM-free monthly Newsletter for all updates here: Nthato Morakabi.com.

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Author Spotlight

In the time that I’ve been writing book reviews, I have read amazing work (and some not so great) and all of them from great authors who are actually really nice people. Some I know personally and others are from across oceans, but one thing they all share in common, is having their works published. It’s an accomplishment worth noting and I would implore you to consider buying their books. I have even included book reviews as a way to convince you they are worth checking out:

 Angela Meadon

David Meredith

J.T. Lawrence

Michael Smorenburg

Sukanya Venkatraghavan

Warren Hately

Xane J. Fisher

And upcoming authors to the spotlight will include:

Ian Patrick

Jennifer Withers

Kerriann Curtis

Marry Ann D’Alto

Vanessa Hawkins

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Read Them First

Let’s also not forget the amazing book blog that Vicky, Jen and I run over at Read Them First. Our blog focuses on:

• New book releases
• Book release dates
• Book cover reveals
• Author Interviews
• Book recommendations

We love books, we know you do too, so drop by and be excited with us as we anticipate books from our favourite authors and genres, and those occasional moments when a new author tickles our fancy! Remember:

Wednesday Book Review: Vasa and Ypres

A Mayfair Conundrum by J.B Chisholm

Title: Vasaand Ypres – A Mayfair Conundrum

Author: J.B Chisholm

Genre: Satire

Book procurement: Author contacted me for a review.

Synopsis: (Amazon)

Forever stylish Vanessa E. Vasa was honing her observation skills when she bumped into Lanky Ella Lanesbury. Or rather Ella bumped into her, twice. When Ella reveals a conundrum, Vanessa is enlisted to help with the aid of her stoic lady’s assistant, Mildred Ypres. Follow Vasa and Ypres as they humorously navigate London’s Mayfair in their first, but hopefully not last, adventure.

Review:

I should say on the onset, that my initial inclination following reading this story and writing this review, was to in  a sense hold back on the review. However, I think it would be unfair on the author and on you dear reader, to paint this novel as something it is not.

This story follows the events of the rather dense, elegantly stylish, uptown woman Vanessa E. Vasa and her intelligent, fish-faced lady assistance Ypres; she has incredible patience. They find themselves in a rather awkward conundrum (which is not really a conundrum) within the streets of London.

The first sentence of this novel put me off immediately, and I had to continue reading with the hope that it would improve. It didn’t. Apart from the grammatical errors peppered throughout the novel, the story was unnecessarily repetitive. If this was done intentionally, it didn’t work very well in my opinion.

The story wasn’t very engaging and the humour lacking. It played upon Vasa’s lack of intelligence and misuse of words, coupled with an unfounded confidence that her lady assistant did little to rectify.

The one thing that I did enjoy about this novel, was the English. The few minutes afterwards, I had to remember that I did not speak in such high English and had to revert back to normal. Also, I was fond of the lady assistant Ypres and understood how she must have felt during the whole ordeal.

Rating: A disappointed 1 out of 5

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You can get The Mayfair Condundrum on Amazon here: The Mayfair Conundrum

Follow them on Twitter here: @VasaAndYpres

The blog here: Vasa And Ypres – WordPress